Bryan A. Stewart, Priests of My People

Today, I read a fascinating work by Bryan A. Stewart, Priests of My People: Levitical Paradigms for Early Christian Ministers (Peter Lang, 2015). It challenges the thesis of scholars such as R.P.C. Hanson in his Christian Priesthood Examined and others, who have previously argued that the early Christian concept of priesthood developed alongside the development of the belief in the Eucharist as a propitiatory sacrifice, as seen in the works of Cyprian of Carthage and/or due to pagan influences. Instead, as early Christians began to understand themselves culturally as a new people in their Greco-Roma world, they likewise viewed themselves connected, both theologically and historically, with ancient biblical Israel, resulting in the Old Testament being understood "typologically" vis-a-vis the "priesthood" by Origen, the author of 1 Clement, and other works pre-dating Cyprian. Stewart also destroys the common Evangelical "counter" to Rom 15:15-16, showing that Paul understood himself to be a priest, and not simply employing the Greek term λειτουργος (minister) in a metaphorical, and not truly sacral sense (pp. 198-202). For those interested in the issue of early Christianity and the priesthood, this is a must-read.

Fortunately, the Ph.D. dissertation which the book is based on is hosted online here on Scott Hahn's Website.

Update: One has to access the dissertation via archive.org; here is one active URL:

http://web.archive.org/web/20120229165521/http://www.scotthahn.com/download/attachment/2468